How (Not) To Practice Music Efficiently, Part One

My “How (Not) To” Hubs are, I hope, fun. But admittedly, my qualifications to
write them do vary a bit from topic to topic. As far as the present Hub goes, though, I’m truly an expert,
with extensive experience of just about every way NOT to practice music
efficiently! So read on with
confidence. . .

William P. Gottlieb's photo of Louis Armstrong in July of 1946. | Source

It turns out that very often you can accurately describe how NOT to practice in terms of veering too far toward some sort of extreme or another. In these instances, efficient practice means holding to the middle way. For example, take this (imaginary) pair of advisory statements:

1) Always persist

2) Don’t persist in your mistakes

But if you always
persist, aren’t you bound to persist even in your mistakes? If so, these adages are
contradictory. Some might see it
just the opposite way, assuming that “Always persist” really means “Always
persist in improving your performance.” In that case, the second
statement is not needed.

I see these statements as defining opposite
ends of a spectrum—extremes, in other words, to be avoided. “Always persist” sounds like good
advice, and it’s true than persistence is an enabling virtue, without which not
much good will come. But it’s also
true that there are times to “hang it up” for a time; times to step back and
check that we’re on the right track before we do more damage. Sometimes the judicious refusal to
persist is the best decision we can make.

Philip Johnston, Australian teacher, composer and author

At the other end of the spectrum, “Don’t persist in your
mistakes” is good advice, too.
Mistakes repeated are mistakes reinforced, and sometimes the only way to
avoid repeating mistakes is to understand them thoroughly—something that may
require a step backward, or at least a momentary pause for thought. But it’s possible to step away too
soon—to step away before we’ve really engaged our mistakes.

This may sound abstract, or perhaps too
obvious, but it’s a very real thing.
For example, when did you last avoid a difficult conversation because
you thought it might be a difficult one?
Most of us will do that sometimes--but when we do, we cut ourselves off from
lessons that may be vitally important.

So for a musical example, if bar 37 is causing trouble, it’s
definitely a mistake to pound away mindlessly, playing bar 37 wrongly over and
over. On the other hand, simply
walking away muttering “Well, it’s just too hard; I’ll pick another piece,” is
unlikely to advance our skills much, either.
Working on it slowly and carefully for a reasonable amount of time, then
putting it away to return to later is usually best.

That’s an example of efficient practice
technique in the mental realm—something affecting our attitude. But music performance is intensely
physical. What about practice
advice that affects the physical side of things?

These hints are enough to make an earnest
reader of advice crazy! But again,
put them on a spectrum and find the middle way. It’s true that your bodily sensations exist (in part) to
keep you from injuring yourself, which makes following tip number two to its
logical conclusion NOT such good advice.

(And by the way, it’s underappreciated just how often musicians do injure themselves
from playing; Repetitive Stress Injuries are quite common. For example, surveys of symphony musicians have found from 64% to 76% have had their performance affected by RSIs.)

The name of this hospital speaks for itself.

But it’s not true that the
wisdom of the body is a sufficient guide; if it were, there would be no such
thing as a music teacher specializing in performance!

The reason is simple:
the familiar almost always feels comfortable, and when you begin playing
or singing your body does not have a “template” for efficiency in that
activity. It all feels awkward at
first--for most of us, at least.
So the first change that gives a little improvement will tend to be
seized on, regardless of whether it really is the most efficient technique in
the long run.

Wynton Marsalis, September 13, 2009. | Source

The process of falling into a "dead end" technique--one that helped at first but ultimately hurt--is one that happened to me as a trumpet player: by age 12, I was thoroughly accustomed to an inefficient embouchure. The consequences are still playing out for me 40 years later, even though I’ve long since changed my embouchure to a more workable “set.” And the teacher most responsible for helping me with that change pointed up the part of the problem we’re talking about here.

“What would you tell a beginning student about embouchure?” he asked me. I mumbled something about a “comfortable” placement of the mouthpiece on the lips. “I knew it!” he crowed. “Don’t say that—guide them to a placement that you as teacher know will work for them—they will quickly accustom to it and soon enough it will be the ‘comfortable’ embouchure.”

So the trick is not to ignore bodily cues, such as aches and pains, or feelings of tension—and also not to ignore logic, or the accumulated wisdom of the playing community, when trying to figure out just how to respond to those cues.

Lester Young at work, photographed by William P. Gottlieb, 1944. | Source

Let’s wrap up Part One with a pair of statements that affect
both mind and body.

1) Always
try your hardest!

2) Don’t
try—just let it flow.

The middle way recognizes on the one hand that playing can
sometimes require serious physical and mental effort. A trumpet player performing a screaming altissimo solo above
a full throttle big band is using a lot of energy. So is a Wagnerian opera singer at the height of a big solo
passage.

A little different, but
no less significant, is the effort required of a Classical guitarist trying to
project every nuance to the back of a five hundred-seat hall, or of a
percussionist focusing on the intricate rhythms and involved physical movements
of a Stockhausen solo percussion piece.

Kenny Werner performing in 2007. | Source

But though the efforts involved may need to be extreme,
over-exertion will always degrade the performance as a result of tension, loss of
synchronization or lessening of muscular control.

My favorite example is that of a male gymnast trying to learn to lift
himself from a headstand into a handstand—an action physically equivalent to
lifting a weight equal to one’s own body weight overhead. The gymnast can do the overhead lift,
with some extra weight to spare, yet consistently fails in performing the actual trick. How can this be?

The answer (you guessed it) is over-exertion. When we over-exert, our brains activate
not just the “right” muscle groups, but also irrelevant or even
counter-productive ones, too.

Thus, the
gymnast, trying to “give 110%,” was in fact literally working against himself by activating muscles that worked in opposition to the ones he really needed to use. He needed to relax, to try less, and let
the effort “flow” into precisely the right muscles—and no others.

I don’t know if he succeeded; I know
from my own experience that over-exertion can be a tough trap to escape. But I know, too, that success is
possible.

Vladimir Horowitz in performance. | Source

So, that's it for Part One. We've looked at some contradictory advice, some of it surprisingly common, and suggested that usually 'the middle way' will be best. We've sampled the thoughts of some outstanding teachers and performers.

And we've set the stage for even more practical hints in Part Two. There we'll consider some more examples where the 'middle way' can help us, and look at some nitty-gritty issues and strategies for better practice!

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"Let's cut to the chase: the way not to work a sudoku puzzle is to wander randomly through the grid, vainly trying to spot something, anything, that looks as if it might help..."

Through A Glass Darkly: Equinox Reflections, 20102010 saw a whole lot of sea ice melt--probably the lowest volume ever. Some thoughts on what it meant and how it felt. "Its just past the fall equinox, that day when the year turns from light to dark, summer to winter..."

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Doc Snow 2 years agofrom Atlanta metropolitan area, GA, USA

Yes, absolutely. Though I wasn't (and probably still am not, quite) a 'fine player,' I was held back immensely by, as you say, 'glossing over' parts in practice.

Looking back, I find it hard to believe how oblivious I was to good practice techniques--oblivious, even, to the sound I was actually producing. In my mind in those days, if I could claim that I played the 'right notes', more or less, that was enough. That's pretty much the polar opposite of an artist's approach. But you have to acquire an image of what you want to produce, and learn to honestly compare that to what you actually are producing, even to accurately assess what your 'mistakes' are, exactly; and that takes time and experience and a certain kind of courage.

Ronald E. Franklin 2 years agofrom Mechanicsburg, PA

I think that “don’t persist in your mistakes” is crucially important. Many times players get caught up in trying to play a passage at speed, glossing over parts they're shaky with, instead of slowing down and getting it right. Good advice.

Author

Doc Snow 6 years agofrom Atlanta metropolitan area, GA, USA

"Hello," thanks for checking out my latest--you truly are my most devoted reader (or at least the one most consistently commenting!) and I truly appreciate your support.

I'm glad you found the Hub inspiring. I don't know if you have musical experience, or experience in some other art form, but my sense is that generally folks don't know how much time and effort goes in to producing those effortless-appearing performances with their illusion of perfection. It's a better story to concentrate on the inspiration and emotion that contribute to them as well--so that's always where the "Hollywood version" goes.

So my thought for this Hub was that in addition to providing some food for thought for pros, and some useful tips for students, the general public could get a bit of a glimpse "behind the curtain."